Trim: The Cartographer’s Cat

Matthew Flinders, Philippa Sandall and Gillian Dooley

Adlard Coles

£12.99

When Captain Matthew Flinders was imprisoned on Mauritius he lost his cat. ‘Trim’ had been born on passage from the Cape of Good Hope to Botany Bay and had sailed with Flinders as he surveyed the Australian coast. As well as keeping down vermin on board ship, Trim climbed the rigging, wheedled scraps from mouths, amused the crew and curled purring in the captain’s bed. He had survived shipwreck but couldn’t adapt to captivity. When he was sent to be a young girl’s pet, he disappeared. Flinders, bored and lonely, wrote a delightful brief biography which is reproduced here: Sandall & Dooley respond on behalf of the ‘seafurrer’. A neat little gift book telling a sad tale sweetly.